New Casino Resort planned for Cambodian border aims to buck trend

no developer Virtue Resources Corporation (VRC) has today announced its investment in a US$200m casino resort development in Bavet City, Cambodia.

The developer aims to build a 50 hectare (124 acre) casino resort just a stone’s throw from Vietnam’s Moc Bai border crossing and hopes to buck the downward trend that has affected Cambodia’s border casinos since Vietnam legalised casino gambling earlier this year.

Current legislation prohibits Cambodian citizens from using the country’s casinos but does not forbid tourists from using them, a move which attracted a lot of gambling revenue from neighbouring Vietnam, where gambling was previously illegal.

However February’s change in Vietnamese law to legalise casino gambling meant that Vietnam’s gamblers no longer needed to travel to Cambodian casinos, prompting a substantial decrease in revenue for many of the previously successful resorts along the countries border.

Despite the sharp downturn in the areas fortunes since the change in the law, VRC state that they chose to invest in the region as they see strong potential for economic growth in the country over the next 10 years.

A ground breaking ceremony has already taken place, with the aim of starting construction of the resort by the end of 2017 and will create over 3,000 jobs in the area. VRC hope to finish construction of the Empire World City resort by the end of 2019.

The completed resort would include a casino, hotel & resort, online casino hub, shopping mall and a large scale “aqua arena”.